Chocolate Yoghurt Cake

When company is coming round for lunch pudding is required in my household. Which is perfect really as I love baking new things and am at a bit of a lose end on how to fill my time these days. 


Yesterday I read about the domestic sluttery pudding club and so when I was told to make pudding it just had to be something chocolatey so that I could join in.


When I got into the kitchen there was a problem. Only one egg. I looked in the fridge and there were buckets of yoghurt. So I set out to find a recipe with yoghurt instead of egg as I remember my friend telling me they used to do that in the Alps on ski season. I failed. But I did stumble upon a delicious looking chocolate yoghurt cake here : http://sunday-suppers.com/recipe-chocolate-yogurt-cakes/ and help came in the form of a dozen eggs so I was good to go!


The recipe was quick and simple and resulted in rich and moist chocolate cakes which weren't too heavy. I think I would add in some instant coffee with the yoghurt next time to help bring out the chocolate flavour, but thats just me.





Chocolate Yogurt Cakes

Unsalted butter, for greasing
1 1/2 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole-milk yogurt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
Icing sugar, for serving
Whipped cream, for serving
Chocolate Shavings, for serving

Everything out and ready to go.

In a small bowl mix 1 tbsp of flour with 1 tbsp of cocoa powder. Grease your cake tins and then sprinkle lightly with the cocoa flour mix. The original recipe calls for mini bundt pans, but I don't own these, so instead I used a 12 cup muffin tin and a large smooth bundt pan.

The baking tins, greased and cocoa'd

In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder and cocoa, and mix. In a separate large bowl whisk the yoghurt, vanilla, eggs and sugar until they become smooth. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, taking care not to over mix. Pour in the oil and mix well. This requires some care and a large enough bowl as the oil doesn't want to be mixed in at first.

After the oil has been mixed the batter should be smooth and glossy, like this

Spoon the mix into the tins, filling about 3/4 full. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C. Small cakes take about 20 minutes, a larger one about 30. Test with a skewer, if it comes out clean, the cakes are done, if not return to the oven for a few more minutes.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 5 minutes before turning onto racks.

Finished product, ready for decoration

Decorate with a sprinkling of icing sugar and chocolate shavings and serve with whipped cream.